NBC Sports has reported that Super Bowl XLIX delivered the highest overnight TV rating in Super Bowl history. The 49.7 rating between the New England Patriots and defending champion Seattle Seahawks went down to the last seconds before a victor was determined. In the end, the Patriots won their 4th Super Bowl 28-24 in one of the most thrilling comebacks, nail-biting drives and bizarre endings ever.

It was reported on ESPN’s MiKe & Mike this morning that 78% of the TV’s that were on during the Super Bowl were tuned into the game. 89% of TV’s in Seattle were tuned into the Super Bowl.

The early numbers are in, and the Super Bowl was a huge hit on TV.

NBC Sports PR has announced that the Patriots’ Super Bowl XLIX victory over the Seahawks delivered a 49.7 overnight rating, the highest in Super Bowl history.

Last year’s Super Bowl overnight rating was a 47.6 for the Seahawks’ blowout win over the Broncos. Closer games generally deliver higher ratings; the previous year’s nail-biter between the Ravens and 49ers got a 48.1 overnight rating, which was the record until now.

In the metered-market overnights, the Patriots’ 28-24 victory earned a 49.7 household rating/72 share, eclipsing the previous high of 48.1/71 set two years ago when Baltimore defeated San Francisco on CBS; that game ended up averaging 108.41 million viewers in the nationals.

NBC’s Super Bowl XLIX overnight topped a 50 rating in each half hour from 8 p.m. ET to the game’s conclusion, peaking with a 52.9/73 from 10 to 10:15 p.m. ET.

In what might just go down as the greatest Super Bowl ever played, the New England Patriots defeat the defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks 28-24. This one was truly Super, the Pats and Seahawks put on one of the greatest games ever. That is what all Super Bowls should be like. Two evenly matched teams, an epic game and just one for the ages.

The Patriots started the 4th quarter down by 10 points and Seattle had all the momentum. But the Patriots showed the heart of a champion as Tom Brady rallied the Patriots with a 5 yard TD pass Danny Amendola in the back of the end zone and a 3 yard TD pass to Julian Edelman (VIDEO) with 2:02 left in the fourth for the go-ahead score. As I said in a previous post prior to today’s game, Julian Edelman is special. Then, just when the patriots thought they would lose another Super Bowl because of a BS catch by Jermaine Kearse, reminiscent of David Tyree, an amazing thing happened. Instead of running the ball in for a TD with “beast mode” Marshawn Lynch, the Seahawks incredibly threw the ball from the one yard line where unknown, but oh so prepared CB Malcolm Butler made the play of his life intercepting the ball.

Malcolm Butler’s goal-line pick clinches Super Bowl win for Patriots

Tom Brady threw four touchdown passes, Malcolm Butler intercepted Russell Wilson in the end zone and the New England Patriots rallied from a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit to beat the Seattle Seahawks 28-24 in the Super Bowl on Sunday.

Brady overcame two interceptions to lead the Patriots to their fourth Super Bowl championship, becoming the third quarterback along with Pittsburgh’s Terry Bradshaw and San Francisco’s Joe Montana to win four titles.

After Jermaine Kearse made a twisting, turning, tumbling catch for a 33-yard gain to the Patriots 5, Marshawn Lynch ran 4 yards to the 1. But Wilson, operating from the shotgun, was intercepted on a pass intended for Ricardo Lockette.

The Patriots beat the Seattle Seahawks, 28-24, last night to win Super Bowl XLIX after Tom Brady’s latest legacy drive and Malcom Butler’s last-minute miracle interception. The Patriots won their fourth Super Bowl in franchise history in dramatic fashion by erasing a 24-14 fourth-quarter lead.

Tom Brady completed all nine pass attempts for 72 yards and a 3-yard touchdown to Julian Edelman, who ran a pristine in-and-out route to beat Tharold Simon for the score that gave the Patriots a 28-24 lead with 2:02 remaining in the fourth quarter. The 37-year-old QB broke a Super Bowl record with 37 completions on 50 attempts for 328 yards, four touchdowns and two interceptions.

UPDATE III: ESPN Analysts discuss the play calling of passing the ball at the 1 yard line, rather than handing the football off to Marshawn Lynch. Malcolm Butler’s goal-line interception gives Pats Super Bowl XLIX title.

Forget “Deflategate” … Seattle now has playcall-gate.

After Jermaine Kearse made a twisting, turning, tumbling catch for a 33-yard gain to the Patriots 5, Marshawn Lynch ran 4 yards to the 1. But Wilson, operating from the shotgun, was intercepted on a pass intended for Ricardo Lockette.

First up is Budweiser with “Lost Dog” to the background music of ‘I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)’. Meet the puppy from the VIDEO. Hey GoDaddy, leave the dog commercials to Budweiser and the Budweiser Clydesdale horses. I mean really, you would mock an adthat makes millions feel good? The hell with animal rights activist, you do realize that web site owners own dogs too, right? Stick with promoting your products with scantily clad images of Danica Patrick. Next time try making a pic that doesn’t piss people off. KUDOS to BUDWEISER!!!

The Arizona lawman who bills himself as “America’s toughest sheriff” predicts the New England Patriots will win the Super Bowl and says some inmates will be allowed popcorn as they watch Sunday’s face-off with the Seattle Seahawks.

Joe Arpaio, the 82-year-old sheriff of Maricopa County where the National Football League’s championship game will be played, held an event on Saturday at which he popped the popcorn and forecast the Patriots will triumph 27-17.

He also took a cheeky jab at his favored team over the “deflategate” scandal, in which the Patriots are accused of using under-inflated footballs during their AFC championship triumph against Indianapolis.

Holding up two mock footballs, one for each team, Arpaio noted that the one for New England was softer. “I don’t know if I can blow this up, but it is kinda deflated!” he said with a chuckle.

Football games are made up of offense, defense, special teams and intangibles. Games like the Super Bowl generally multiply the importance of intangibles like turnovers, sacks, penalties and bad calls by referees.

OFFENSE: (Patriots)

The New England Patriots finally have a balanced offense and have gotten away from the video game, throw at all-cost offense that hurt them in the Superbowl’s they lost against the NY Giants. They have proved in the 2014 season that they can run or pass the ball depending on what defense they are going up against. In this years playoffs, they ran all over the Colts and passed all over the Ravens to victory. The Pats have the best QB in the game today, with a Super Bowl victory, Tom Brady may be considered the best ever. The Patriot offense finally has a collection of WR’s that are tough and fearless, similar to the ones that they won three previous Lombardi trophies with. Their power running game with LeGarrette Blount can be dominating. Then there is the match up nightmare who Rob Gronkowski … The GRONK!

For the Seattle Seahawks, if the offensive offense shows up Super Bowl Sunday like the one from the Championship game, they will not be trailing 16-0 at half time, it will be 35-0 and the game will be over. However, it is hard to believe anything that bad could happen again. Honestly, the Seahawks can thank their lucky stars that Green Bay coaching staff had their own “deflategate” incident two weeks ago where their head coach did not have the balls to go for it on 4th down and win the game and let the ‘Most Valuable Player’ in the NFL win the game. Guess who doesn’t do that, Bill Belichick. There have been games this year where Russell Wilson was terrible and of course there where many where he was very good. If “beast mode” and Marshawn Lynch does not carry the load in this game, it is hard to believe that the Seahawk passing game can.

DEFENSE: (Edge to Seahawks)

Obviously The Legion of Boom is a great defense, maybe one of the best of all time. Trust me, they will tell you so. I am a PATS fan, but I can acknowledge that the Seattle D is very, very good. The only difference this year as compared to last year’s Super Bowl is the Patriots are not Denver, Tom Brady is not Peyton Manning, Belichick is not John Fox. Also, they only think missing from the Seattle D is depth. Their D-line is not as good as they do not have their continuous flow of revolving the D- line. Kam Chancellor is the best safety in the game, but the unknown going into today’s game is the health of the Seahawk secondary. Safety Earl Thomas and CB Richard Sherman got hurt in the NFC Championship game. For some reason GB decided not to throw against Sherman who had one arm. If they get nicked up in this game, that could swing things in a major way. Kam Chancellor also dealing with an injury.

Although the Seattle D is very good, it is not like the New England Patriots are chopped liver. Their DB’s and safeties are very good and built to go up against the elite receivers of the Denver Broncos and Indianapolis Colts. The LB’s morph to either taking on the run or dropping back into pass coverage. It may be the D line that determines the outcome for the Patriots. If they can stop the run and contain Wilson in the pocket, that would be key.

Penalties- The Seattle Seahawks were the most penalized team in the NFL. The Seahawks continually jump offsides on defense and receive illegal procedure penalties on offense. The last thing you would want to do is give Tom Brady second chances and free plays. Some where during the game this will benefit the Patriots and go against the Seahawks.

Coaching – nod goes to Bill Bilichick.

Two TE New England offense. Gronk and Tim Wright have gelled of late.

Injuries – Going into the game, 3 members of the Legion of Boom have injuries, the Pat’s center rookie Bryan Stork does as well.

Beastmode – Will Seattle use their running game in the beginning of the game? For some reason they think they are a passing team lately.

Julian Edelman – Does Edleman have a special play in him today, punt return, pass for a TD, etc?

Which Russell Wilson shows up today? The one that starred in last years Super Bowl out-dueling Peyton Manning, or the one that had a 0.0 QB rating at the end of the first half two weeks ago?

Can the Patriotsand LeGarrette Blount run on the Seattle D, setting up play action passing?

My guess, the Patriots will look to stop the Seattle running game and contain Russell Wilson in the pocket. That means putting their DB’s, Darrelle Revis-Island, Brandon Browner, Kyle Arrington and Devin McCourty man-to-man against the Seattle receivers and move a safety up to play the run. If the Patriots can make Seattle a one dimensional team or play from the lead, it will bode well for New England. My feeling is that the 2014 Patriots team is more like the one’s that won the Super Bowl, than the pass happy, all offense and no defense ones that lost. Football is a game of match ups and this will be a physical one.

Former Vanderbilt University football players, 21 year old Brandon Vandenburg and 20 year old Cory Batey have been found guilty of 16 felonies, including several for aggravated rapein the sexual assault of a female student in a Vanderbilt dorm in June 2013. It took the jury just three hours to return guilty on all charges for both Batey and Vandenburg. Both individuals were convicted of four counts of aggravated rape, one count of attempted aggravated rape and two counts of aggravated sexual battery. The trial took 12 days, but the jury deliberations took just a little more than 3 hours. The jury had their minds made up when lawyers were giving closing arguments. Their sentencing is scheduled for March 6, 2015.

These two idiots have ruined their lives with their poor and deviant decisions. They had the opportunity to attend Vanderbilt University, one of the best colleges in America and pissed it all away. Actions have consequences.

Look how the two convicted rapists have been polished up by their attorneys for court

Two former Vanderbilt football players were convicted on Tuesday of raping a fellow student in 2013 after a jury rejected claims that they were too drunk to know what they were doing and that a college culture of binge drinking and promiscuous sex should be blamed for the attack.

The jury deliberated for three hours before announcing its verdict against the two former players, Brandon Vandenburg and Cory Batey. Mr. Batey was stoic, staring ahead, and Mr. Vandenburg shook his head no, appearing stunned as the verdict was read. His father had an outburst and abruptly left the courtroom.

The victim, who was a 21-year-old neuroscience and economics major at the time of the attack, cried as each guilty verdict was announced.

Both men were convicted of four counts of aggravated rape, one count of attempted aggravated rape and two counts of aggravated sexual battery. They face decades in prison at their sentencing, scheduled for March 6.

“Thank you to everyone who has supported me throughout this difficult process. I’m thankful that the criminal justice system will hold the defendants responsible for their violent crimes. The hard work of the law enforcement officers, prosecutors and victims’ advocates who dedicated so many months of their lives to this case has made justice possible.

I want to especially thank detective Jason Mayo, Sgt. Mike Shreeve, Detective Chad Gish, Deputy District Attorney Tom Thurman, Assistant District Attorneys Jan Norman and Roger Moore and victims’ advocates Wanda Swan, Lt. Rochelle Barrios and Teresa Shearon. You are my heroes and I am so proud of and grateful for each of you.

“I am also hopeful that the publicity this case has received will lead to a discussion of how we can end sexual violence on college campuses. Finally, I want to remind other victims of sexual violence: You are not alone. You are not to blame.”

Two other players, Jaborian McKenzie and Brandon Banks, were also accused in the rape. Both have pleaded not guilty and are awaiting trial.

SNL was the latest to jump on the pile of this old, tired and over reported story of ‘Deflategate’.

Honestly, the SNLskit was a bit of a yawner. The only funny part of the ‘deflate-gate’ skit was when assistant equipment co-manager Dougy Spoons took the podium.

When the media started asking questions whether Tom Brady has instructed him to doctor the balls and that they wanted the truth, Dougy came back with Jack Nicholson’s famous line from ‘A Few Good Men’… “You can’t handle the truth”and “You’re damn right I did.” Other than this, the rest with Belichick and Brady is a sleeper.

(Jump to the 3:30 mark for any form of humor.)

Dougy: You can’t handle the truth! Son we live in a world that has balls. And those balls have to be inflated by men with pumps.
Who is going to do it you, you reporter Weinberg? You don’t want the truth, because deep down in places you don’t talk about at Super Bowl parties you want me on the ball, you need me on that ball.

New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick held an impromptu press conference this afternoon to emphatically say that the Pats followed every rule in preparing footballs for the AFC Championship game and provided a possible reason as to what may have happened in the case of “deflated balls”. Although Belichick said he was not a science guy, he did a rather good job of explaining what may have occurred from a scientific standpoint.Bill Belichick said that the balls were then delivered to the game’s officiating crew with the request that theybe inflated to 12.5 pounds per square inch. Belichick told the reporters that the Pats conducted an internal investigation as to the ball preparation processand concluded the following:

He said the Patriots conducted their own internal investigation in which they replicated their game-day procedures — including what would have happened last Sunday evening before their 45-7 win against the Indianapolis Colts.

The Patriot’s internal investigation included multiple recreations of the process that occurs during games, from the point in which quarterback Tom Brady and the equipment staff begin working on a set of brand new footballs. Belichick said the Patriots’ footballs were prepared according to quarterback Tom Brady’s preferred texture before the game — a process that included what Belichick described as “vigorous rubbing” that resulted in the balls’ PSI being raised by one pound.

Belichick stated, “I’m embarrassed to talk about the amount of time I’ve put into this, relative to the challenge in front of us.” In what may have been one of the greatest out of character moments of the Patriots coach, Bill Belichick even referenced the movie ‘My Cousin Vinny’, at the presser saying he was “no Mona Lisa Vito,” in terms of ball knowledge compared to Marisa Tomei’s character’s mechanical car knowledge (VIDEO).

Bill Belichick stated that the New England Patriots “followed every rule” in preparing their footballs for last Sunday’s AFC Championship Game, offering several potential reasons behind the “Deflategate” controversy.

Belichick addressed the issue in a lengthy statement Saturday, one day after the NFL announced that it has not drawn any conclusions yet on how the Patriots used under-inflated footballs during the first half of the conference title game against the Indianapolis Colts.

After detailing the organization’s preparation process and hinting that weather conditions may have affected the air pressure in the footballs, the longtime Patriots coach emotionally defended his team, saying “we did everything as right as we can do it.”

“At no time was there any intent whatsoever to try to compromise the integrity of the game or to gain an advantage,” Belichick said.

Let’s get a couple of things straight here, if this has been done by any of the other 31 NFL teams, “deflategate” would not be a story. Sorry, but it is true. People either love or hate the Patriots because of their dominance, their consistent winning, of course “Spygate,” and the fact that they have destroyed the myth that the NFL’s golden child, Peyton Manning, is not only the greatest QB of all time, he is not even the best QB of his era.

KEEP IT CLASSY SEAHAWKS, KEEP IT UP AND PEOPLE WILL WANT TO ROOT AGAINST YOU.

Following the Seattle Seahawks miraculous victory on Sunday in the NFC Championship game over the Green Bay Packers in overtime 28-22, Seahawk wide receiver Doug Baldwin went on a post-game rant against a doubting media. Really dude, the chip on your shoulder is the size of the George Hallas trophy. During his expletive filled tirade Baldin spouted, “At 16-0 at the half, how many of you counted us out? How many of y’all doubted us?” Note to Doug Baldwin, pretty much everyone did, including your fans. When you stink up the field, can’t catch the ball, can’t throw the ball and your QB has a rating of 0.0, I think anyone in the free world had a right to doubt you. Baldwin further went on to lose his mind and said, “When we were down 16-0 at the half, guess what we said? You don’t win the game in the first half. You win the game in the second half.” Really Doug, is that what you said? I hate to burst your attitude bubble but with 3:50 minutes left in the game, you were down 19-7 and dead in the water. You know who actually thought you were also going to lose, your fabled 12th man. That is correct, so I guess Baldwin needs to lambaste the Seahawk 12th man fans as well as they left early, never believing that Seattle would win the game. You know, Seattle did not win the game, the Green Bay Packer gave it away, choked and lost the game.

Doug, you might want to ease up on the attitude, you got lucky. If you pulled such a stunt and played that badly against the Patriots, you would have been down 30-0 in the first half.

“Are you ready for this? Are you? How many of you (expletive) doubted us? How many of you doubted us when we were 3-3? Y’all, I want you to write this down. Write this down, OK?

“When we were 3-3, everyone counted us out. Y’all didn’t believe in us. A whole bunch of people thought we weren’t going to make it. At 6-4, ah, that’s OK. ‘They have a winning record, but they aren’t going to make the playoffs.’

“At 16-0 at the half, how many of you counted us out? How many of y’all doubted us? It is indicative of our season. Y’all didn’t want to believe in us. It is OK. We don’t need you to believe. We’re going to believe in ourselves. We ain’t worried about y’all. We are worried about ourselves.

“When we were down 16-0 at the half, guess what we said? ‘You don’t win the game in the first half. You win the game in the second half.’ When we do, we come out and we do what we do. We play Seahawks football. We got the opportunity to do what we love. And, we’ll see y’all at the Super Bowl.”